The Phillies just unintentionally vindicated the Cubs’ offseason strategy

Bryce Harper represents the shift in the Chicago Cubs' approach during the offseason. Entering the 2018 season, it seemed that the plan was for the Cubs to prioritize signing Harper in the offseason ahead, establishing a new center at their contending core. Instead, Tom Ricketts' wallet closed up, and the focus for the Cubs has been "intelligent spending" ever since.

In other words, the Cubs were burned by the Jason Heyward deal and the initial return of the Yu Darvish contract, and those two decisions dramatically shifted the front office's approach to free agency. Harper was a clear fit for the Cubs, but as the 2019 offseason started, it was clear the North Siders wanted no part of his bidding.

Harper inked a 13-year deal with the Phillies worth $330MM. The early years of Harper's tenure with the Phillies were marked by the team frequently reaching the NLCS and even advancing to the World Series in 2022. Harper was a perennial MVP candidate, and it seemed that the deal was working out exactly how the Cubs envisioned at the start of the 2018 season. The only issue is that they were watching it from afar.

Top Phillies exec just gave the Cubs' annoying offseason plan a big boost

For as great as Harper's initial run with the Phillies has been, Philadelphia's president of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski, raised some eyebrows when he openly questioned if the 33-year-old veteran could return to being a superstar.

"I don't think he's content with the year that he had. And again, it wasn't a bad year. But when you think of Bryce Harper, you think of elite, right? You think of one of the top 10 players in baseball, and I don't think it fit into that category. But again, a very good player. I've seen guys at his age—again, he's not old—that level off. Or I've seen guys rise again."

To be fair, we're still talking about a player who hit 27 home runs last season while posting a 131 wRC+. A down year for Harper, but still one of the better offensive seasons in all of baseball. But the fact that even the slightest of regression has Dombrowski wondering what's next is a reminder that the Cubs aren't the only team worried about how a contract for a superstar free agent will age.

Of course, on the other side of the argument is that having a player like Harper on your roster provides the ability for the contention window to remain open longer than it normally should. If a contract aging poorly is still a player hitting nearly 30 home runs and falling just out of a superstar status, the logic remains that's a deal the Cubs shouldn't be afraid to make.